Recent changes in Oregon’s public high school graduation requirements have shaken the stability of the otherwise well-established public education system in that state.
Oregon is sometimes thought of as being a kind of easygoing, granola, hippie kind of state. So before we get into the details of the controversial revisions to Oregon’s high school graduation requirements, let’s take a look at the unwieldy legislative and administrative structure that governs decisions about public education in that state.
The Oregon Department of Education is somewhat similar in structure to the B.C. Ministry of Education except — and it’s a big “except” — that the department administers the more than 1,200 K-12 schools in its 197 school districts.
In comparison, B.C., with a population of about five million — compared with Oregon’s 4.2 million — has 60 school districts, each with its own school board, that operate the province’s approximately 1,600 public schools.
In Oregon, each district has its own superintendent but a very high turnover has resulted in 60 superintendents being in the first or second year of the job.
That’s not a sign of stability.
Overseeing all this potential turmoil is the politically appointed Oregon State Board of Education, a kind of state school board that sets educational policies and standards for the 197 school districts.
The state board of education meets six times a year and is made up of seven members appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state senate. Five members represent Oregon’s five congressional districts, and two members represent the state at large. Members serve four-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms.
In short, Oregon has many cooks stirring the education broth.
Oregon’s current education troubles really began in June of 2021 with a new law — Senate Bill 744 — that ordered the Oregon Department of Education to review state graduation requirements.
The bill suspended a requirement that Oregon students in the classes of 2022, 2023 and 2024 demonstrate proficiency on statewide Essential Learning Skills tests — which tested students in reading comprehension, science and mathematics — in order to graduate.
In addition, Bill 744 required the department to research graduation requirements in other states. At least 34 U.S. states require students to complete specific state-wide assessments as a graduation requirement.
In short, Oregon’s Bill 744 left 197 school districts to establish their own graduation requirements.
This did not sit well with Oregon’s post-secondary institutions, or, for that matter, many parents.
But the new law passed the Oregon legislature anyway and without much fuss, with only a handful of legislators speaking in favour or against.
According to a report in the Oregonian newspaper, the seven-member politically appointed state board claims that while most high school students will still take in-school standardized tests, those tests won’t be used to determine whether a student has the skills necessary to graduate, which begs the question as to what the test results will be used for.
A state board news release defended the legislation, pointing out there was no convincing correlation between the graduation tests and first-year college success, and arguing that research indicates the Essential Learning Skills tests have not improved first-year college readiness.
Opponents to the move away from the state ELS tests argued that the loss of the graduation requirement devalues Oregon’s high school diploma.
State education officials countered by claiming that the practice of requiring all students to pass the tests was hurting historically marginalized students and was a misuse of state tests.
In comparison to Oregon, B.C. Grade 12 students, in order to graduate, must earn a minimum of 80 school-based course credits but also write a provincewide Grade 10 numeracy assessment as well as provincewide Grades 10 and 12 literacy assessments.
One positive result of the change in Oregon, according to Elizabeth Miller of Oregon Public Broadcasting, has been that the four-year graduation rate for the Class of 2022 in Oregon was 81.3%, up slightly from the previous year’s graduation rate.
Miller said graduation rates improved across all student groups, with some of the largest gains for Native Hawaiian and 91原创 Islanders and among students experiencing homelessness.
The graduation rate for migrant students also jumped, surpassing the state average, Miller said.
No data was available comparing in-school results across the state.
Geoff Johnson is a former superintendent of schools.
